nd them memorials of themselves by bestowing
their name upon a new fort or outwork. The continual increase of
security and strength did not serve to improve the daring of the
Knights, but rather helped to engender a condition of sloth that was
destined to prove fatal.

This period is marked by constant tumults among the members of the
Order and by acts of defiance against the Grand Masters. Even in the
days of its glory there had been much jealousy and friction between
the different nationalities composing the Order. The three French
langues of Provence, Auvergne, and France, by acting together,
exercised a preponderant influence; they contributed half the revenues
of the Order, and were generally able to secure their object against
the opposition of the remaining Knights. The constant wars between
Spain and France in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries led to
constant troubles at Malta, and the Grand Masters throughout this
period had great and increasing difficulty in preserving the Order's
neutrality. Many Knights broke their Oath of Obedience by enlisting in
the French and Spanish armies. When this was discovered, the offended
King would make out that the Order had taken sides and would threaten
it with his vengeance. As the Order possessed many estates in both
kingdoms, the Grand Masters were in constant fear that these would be
encroached upon if an excuse could be found to justify such an
action. But Spain, while it possessed the kingdom of the Two Sicilies,
possessed an even surer method of punishing the Order. Malta,
despite all the care lavished upon it, has never been able to produce
sufficient corn for its population, and for this reason imported food
regularly from Sicily, where the Order had built granaries for storing
the corn while awaiting transshipment. As soon as the Knights offended
the King of Spain Malta was plunged into scarcity, and the unhappy
natives had often to suffer heavily because the Grand Master was a
Frenchman.

Another result of the wars of France and Spain was the frequent
internal quarrels at Malta. As the feelings of the two nations towards
each other were often embittered, it is not surprising to find that
French and Spanish Knights would come to open blows in the streets of
Valetta. The unhealthy life of those young and idle aristocrats was
conducive to turbulence, and the Grand Masters often adopted the
policy of sending them to sea as soon as trouble was foreseen. The
Fre